by Anne Patrick
"Gwen, you copy?" Kris came over Gwen's earpiece hidden by her wig.
"Yeah. No sign of her yet," she answered quietly as she rubbed her cheek.
Gwen hung around near the door for a few minutes. A young couple with two children came in and she motioned for them to move in front of her. The man nodded his appreciation and quickly ushered his kids into the line ahead of him and his wife. She noticed two other couples with young children waiting to be served. It was heartbreaking to see so many people in distress. It made her appreciate places like this and the Canton Street Shelter, where many of the homeless slept when the temperatures got to be unbearable. Eighteen years ago that hadn't been the case.
Almost an hour went by and there was still no sign of the girl. Gwen figured she was still spooked. She had no doubt seen the sketches up around town of her. It could be weeks before the kid came out of hiding, or worse, she could have left town. If Gwen had ever been in her situation with the cops looking for her, that's exactly what she would have done.
"I've got a youth heading in wearing a hoodie," Kris warned. "Could be her."
"Okay." Gwen slipped into the line, waited a few seconds then looked behind her. Around five-two, slender, brown hair, and blue eyes. It was her. Gwen moved forward and grabbed a tray and plastic utensils. When they reached the serving tables, Gwen dropped her spoon and went back for another so the girl would move ahead of her. After being served, the teenager chose the table with the young couple Gwen had let in front of her earlier. Gwen followed, sitting across from her.
The young girl, who Gwen guessed to be around fourteen, stuffed the roll and carton of milk into a shoulder bag that was draped across her body. She hadn't worn it the night Gwen chased her through the alley so Gwen guessed she probably stole it from somewhere.
"This is pretty good spaghetti," Gwen commented.
"The tacos are better."
Gwen glanced over at the little boy sitting with his parents. He looked to be about six. "You like tacos, huh?"
He nodded enthusiastically. "They had'em last week."
"Sorry I missed those."
"Are you new in town?" the father asked. "I haven't seen you here before."
Gwen could sense the girl watching her, but didn't make eye contact. "Lived here a few years. Had a run of some bad luck lately, though, lost my job then I couldn't make rent."
"Know the feeling." He reached over and offered his hand. "I'm Levi. This is my wife, Hayley, and my boys, Noel and Joseph."
"My name's Gwen. Nice to meet you all." Gwen looked at the girl across from her. "And who might you be?"
The teenager lowered her gaze and kept eating.
"Mandy doesn't talk much," Hayley said. "She's a good kid, though. Whenever we have a job interview, she keeps an eye on the boys for us."
"How's the search going, any luck?"
"A couple of possibilities." Levi took his wife's hand. "We've been hoping to land a caretaker's job we applied for at a motel on the outskirts of the city. It'd be perfect for us. I've been a handyman most of my life and Hayley has housekeeping experience."
"I hope you get it." Gwen was tempted to ask how they had ended up on the street but knew better. An unspoken rule among the homeless was you didn't mettle into other people's personal business. It was okay to help one another with food, clothing, or advise, just don't be nosey.
"Do you have a place to stay, Gwen?" Hayley inquired.
It was the opening Gwen had been waiting for. "I was staying with a friend down on Main but since that mess a couple weeks back, that had the cops swarming the area, I've just been staying wherever I can. I've got an outstanding warrant on me for shoplifting."
"That was terrible." Levi took his napkin and swiped it across Noel's chin.
Gwen glanced briefly at Mandy. She had her head down and was pushing her fork around in her spaghetti.
"I wonder if the police ever caught the guy," Hayley commented.
"Not according to the newspaper I read at the Laundromat yesterday." Levi glanced down the table at Mandy. "I'm sure they will, though. Especially now that he's wounded two police officers."
"I'm going to the restroom." Mandy left the table and headed to a hallway near the kitchen.
Gwen followed. As soon as the girl hit the hallway, she took off up a staircase. "Circle around, Kris. She's going out the back." Gwen topped the stairs. There were closed doors on both sides of the hallway and a door at the far end. Gwen figured Mandy hadn't made it that far yet and started opening doors. She searched two classrooms before she found one with an opened window. Peering out at a half empty parking lot, she saw no sign of Mandy. "Lost her. Kris, you see her?"
The cruiser pulled into the driveway. "No. Are you sure she exited the building?"
"I've got an open window here, so yeah." Gwen considered bringing in a couple of units to help search the area, but figured the girl was long gone. Her best bet was to go question Mandy's friends. "Keep an eye on the side and rear exits, just in case. I'm gonna go back and talk to some people."
Gwen returned to the dining hall and saw the couple clearing off the table. As she approached them, Levi knelt and said something to the boys and they went over and sat with an older woman who Gwen recognized as one of the volunteers.
Levi then turned to Gwen. "She's a lot faster than she looks…officer."
"It's detective." She pulled her credentials from her back pocket. "Gwen Jamison. We need to talk."
"Okay." Levi pulled out a chair for his wife and then he sat beside her. "Can I ask why you're after Mandy?"
"I think you already know the answer to that, Levi. What can you tell me about her?"
"Not much. Like I said, she doesn't talk a lot."
"How long have you known her?"
"Six or seven months."
"I know she had a bad experience in foster care," Hayley added. "And she doesn't trust men much. Took Levi forever to get her to talk to him."
"How did you get in contact with her when you needed her to babysit?"
Levi and Hayley looked at one another but neither spoke.
"I get it, you guys take care of one another. But I really need Mandy's help. I don't know what all she told you about that night, but she literally ran into the man who had just robbed that liquor store and killed a woman. Now I don't know if she can ID him, but there's a pretty good chance he got a good look at her. She could be in serious danger."
"Will she get into any trouble for the attempted purse snatching?" Levi asked.
"I can't guarantee that, but I promise you I'll do everything in my power to keep her out of juvie. Please. I'm running out of time here, and this is a very dangerous man we're looking for."
"Mandy is a good kid, Detective," Hayley assured. "She just had a very rough start in life."
"The more I know about her, the easier it will be for me to help her."
"All we know is her name's Amanda, Mandy for short, and she's fifteen," Hayley said. "For the past several months she's been studying for her GED so she can get a job when she turns sixteen. Mandy's smart. She even helps the kids with their schoolwork. Right now we're home schooling them until we find a permanent home."
"Do you know what she was doing near the liquor store that night?"
"Before Mrs. Gyman was killed, she used to pay Mandy to help her at the store when her husband wasn't around. Mandy would stock the coolers for her, sweep and mop the floors, that sort of stuff. It wasn't much but it kept her fed and allowed her to buy clothes at the thrift store when she needed them. Her death devastated Mandy."
"And she's scared to death the man who killed Mrs. Gyman will come after her." Levi put his arm around his wife. "We promised her we'd keep her safe."
"So she's been staying with your family. Where?"
They both sat quiet for several seconds. Gwen needed them to trust her. "I know a judge who may be willing to help in the charge against Mandy. I need to talk to her, though, find out what she knows about the robbery and mu
rder."
"And if she doesn't know anything?" Levi asked.
"Then I want to hear it from her own lips…in person." Gwen thought of the 9-1-1 call reporting the robbery. "She's got a disposable phone. Do you have her number?"
"Detective, it's not that we don't want to help." Levi looked at his wife then back at Gwen. "It's just that we're the only friends she has right now."
"Okay. Get hold of her later. Tell her I just want to talk to her. I'll meet her wherever she wants." Gwen gave him her card. "And until she does, every cop in the city will be looking for her."
"All right."
"You're not going to follow us away from here, are you?" Hayley asked.
Gwen shook her head. "She depends on you, and I need you guys to trust me. I do have her best interest at heart."
*****
Kris was on her cellphone when Gwen got in the car. "I'll be home shortly and we can talk about it then. Love you, too."
"Trouble in paradise?"
Kris twisted her mouth to one side. "Eric's parents are flying in for the weekend."
"Sounds like fun," Gwen teased. She quickly texted Ian and told him she'd meet him in an hour.
"So what happened with the girl?"
"She made me and took off." Gwen filled her in what she had managed to get from Levi and Hayley.
"You think she'll call?"
"Probably not."
"We could just be wasting our time with her." Kris drove out of the parking lot and headed toward the station.
"No, my gut is telling me she's the key to bringing Bartlett down." Gwen turned in the seat. "Which reminds me, how about a chance to duck out on your in-laws this weekend?"
"No, Gwen. No stakeouts. Didn't the lieutenant order you to back off Bartlett last week?"
"He won't know. Neither will Bartlett if we use your minivan, or I can borrow Mrs. Bernstein's Volvo."
"Eric will kill me, or worse, you're gonna get me suspended."
"Please. You know once the kids are in bed, its just going to be you and Eric, and his parents."
"All right, but only Friday and Saturday. And we're not using my minivan."
Back in the squad room, Gwen called and left a message with DCS requesting any caseworker with information on a client who matched the girl's description and also went by the name Mandy, to give her a call immediately.
She then changed clothes and headed to Rafferty's.
*****
Gwen spotted Ian in a booth near the poolroom and was about to head that way when she saw Nick and Sara. Nick waved her over. "Hey you two."
"I was just telling Sara about the makeover I did on you today. How'd it go?"
"Not as well as I'd hoped. Once I brought up the robbery, she got spooked and took off."
"And you didn't catch her?" He looked at Sara. "She runs like a cheetah, I swear."
"I promised the lieutenant no foot chases."
"Speaking of the boss—"
"I saw him. I was just on my way to talk to him. He wanted an update."
"Of course he does." Nick chuckled. "Maybe the four of us can play pool after while."
"Yeah, maybe. Nice seeing you again, Sara."
"You too, Gwen."
She walked back to Ian's booth and slid in across from him. "Your prayer didn't work. Not that I had much faith it would.
"God answers all prayers, Gwen. Maybe not in our timing or the way we want them answered, but according to his will."
Gwen didn’t bother with a reply. Instead, she waved Stephanie over and ordered a cup of coffee.
"No dessert?" Ian asked.
"Lost my appetite. Just coffee."
Ian ordered himself a sandwich. Once Stephanie left with their orders, he nudged Gwen's foot under the table. "Tell me what happened."
She brought him up to speed. By the time she was finished, his food had arrived.
"I assure you, I'm going to find the girl one way or another."
"Why didn't you follow the couple? They could've led you right to her."
"I told them I wouldn't. I'm not going to take away her safety net, Ian. They're the closest thing she has to a family right now."
"She could be a material witness, Gwen."
"I know that, but getting her friends to betray her isn't going to do me any good. If I hope to get anything from her, I have to gain her trust first."
"How'd she make you? Because your getup sure had me fooled."
"I don't know, my voice maybe. Or she could've just gotten spooked because we were talking about the robbery and murder. According to the couple, Mrs. Gyman had been helping Mandy out with some cash for doing odd jobs around the store. Her murder shook the girl up pretty bad."
"We need to get her off the streets, Gwen. She isn't safe. She should be in a foster home."
"Believe me, she's probably better off where she is. Sometimes the streets are a lot safer."
"That isn't your call, Gwen. She's a juvenile, and you're sworn to uphold the law."
Gwen drank her coffee, refusing to get sucked into an argument over morality. She wasn't about to force the girl into a system she knew all too well.
"First Bartlett and now the girl. Do you take all your cases this personal?"
"The two are connected. When are you gonna get that?"
"As soon as you bring me some proof." Smiling, he reached over and took her hand. "Let's play some pool."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Gwen arrived at work Friday morning to find a message from a social worker with DCS waiting for her. Gwen called the woman back and they agreed to meet for coffee. Kris insisted she go along.
"What happened to all the cases you were juggling?" Gwen grabbed her credentials from her purse before locking it away.
"You can help me with them as soon as we wrap up the robbery case."
"Let me guess, the lieutenant still thinks I need a chaperone?"
"Just following orders."
The coffee shop the woman had chosen was two blocks from the DCS building. Gwen pulled into an empty parking space and was about to head inside when she spotted a nicely dressed lady walking their direction. A large shoulder bag was draped across her body.
"Are you Detective Jamison?"
"Yeah." She lifted the badge from her waist then motioned to Kris. "This is Detective Kris Todd."
"Erica Wentworth." She shook both their hands. "I was Mandy's caseworker."
The three went inside the shop, ordered their coffees, and then moved to a table near the back of the café. "What can you tell us about Mandy?" Gwen asked, once seated.
"Her full name is Amanda Kingsley. She's fifteen." Erica took out a photograph of Mandy and placed it on the table. "It was taken a little over a year ago."
Gwen looked at the teenager with shoulder-length brown hair and nodded. The two times Gwen had seen Mandy, she'd been wearing a hoodie, but the girl in the picture was definitely the same girl they were looking for. "What's her story?"
"After her mother died three years ago, her stepfather started raping her. According to Mandy, he threatened to kill her dog if she told anyone. Seven months later she took the dog and ran away. After she was found rummaging through a dumpster, she was brought to us. By then the stepfather had skipped town."
"She doesn't have any other family?" Kris asked.
"No father was listed on her birth certificate, and we were unable to find any living relatives on her mother's side, so she was placed in foster care."
Gwen sighed. The poor kid never had a chance.
"She loved the people we placed her with but then the man died in a work accident and Mandy was placed in a foster home with five other kids. One of the boys tried to get into bed with her one night. She told her foster parents and they kicked her out."
"Please tell me they're no longer licensed," Kris commented.
"No. When a toddler was injured while in their care, we did a thorough investigation, which is how we found out about what had happened to Mandy."
"Over eight months."
Gwen lifted the photograph from the table. The haunting blue eyes that stared back at her sparked the memory of seeing Mandy for the first time. The pain and sorrow etched in her face, and the desperate plea for Gwen to let her go.
"Gwen!"
Jerked back to the present, she looked at Kris. "What?"
"Did you have any other questions?"
Gwen glanced across the table at Erica. "Just one. Has Mandy been in any trouble before?"
"No. That's why I didn't think to call you when I first saw the sketch. But when the name was added to the description I knew it was her."
"May I borrow the photo? I'd like to have copies made up so patrol can keep an eye out for her."
"Of course. I hope you find her. She's a good kid. Very smart."
"We'll find her." Gwen stood and shook her hand. "Thanks for your help."
While driving back to the station, Gwen continued to think about Mandy. If Gwen could get her friend, Judge Larkin, to help, the kid still might have a chance at a good life. She would need to line up a good foster home first, one where Mandy would feel safe.
Gwen remembered the missing person call she went out on a while back. She couldn't remember the foster mother's name, but she did recall that she seemed like a very responsible foster parent. The teenager was Mandy's age, so the home would be a good fit, providing the parents would take her and Gwen could talk her into going.
She pulled into the garage and parked the cruiser in the motor pool. Roger met her with the clipboard. "Detective Todd, did you know you have a flat on your minivan?"
"What?" Kris looked behind them. "Eric just put new tires on it."
"Sorry. If you want, I can change it for you."
"Are you sure you don't mind, Roger."
"Not at all. It's pretty quiet around here today."
"All right. I'll bring my keys back down."
Nick was the only one in the squad room when they went in. The poor guy looked bored out of his skull and he still had another week to go on desk duty.